Life

His Eminence Irenaeus was born in 1934 in Pireas, Greece. He studied at and graduated from the University of Athens and continued his education at the Theological Academy of Moscow, where he received a doctorate degree. Metr. Irenaeus could speak Russian, French, English, and Arabic in addition to his native Greek.

In 1953, he was ordaineddeacon and in 1959 priest. Between 1963 and 1972, Fr. Irenaeus served as exarch of the Church of Alexandria in Odessa. Between 1968 and 1972, he had additional duties as archivist and chief secretary of the Patriarchate of Alexandria.

In 1972, Fr. Irenaeus was elected Bishop of Nikopolis and appointed Patriarchal Warden in Alexandria. In 1976, Bp. Irenaeus was elected Metropolitan of Accra with jurisdiction over 22 countries in West Africa. He established his see in the cathedral in Yaounde that originally was built by a Greek community, but which had lost communicants as the children of the original community went to Europe for education and did not returned. Metr. Irenaeus found that local residents were interested in Orthodoxy and began attending the services at the cathedral. As the number of inquirers increased many became Orthodox, including visiting members of the Toubouri tribe from Cameroon. By the time Metr. Irenaeus left to become Metropolitan of Carthage in 1990, eight Toubouri speaking parishes had formed in Cameroon and Chad.

In 1994, Metr. Irenaeus was appointed Metropolitan of Kenya and Irinoupolis (Dar-es-Salaam). In September 1997, he was appointed Metropolitan of Pilousion. Metr. Irenaeus reposed as the result of a helicopter crash in the Aegean Sea on September 11, 2004.